Poster with teal background and white text that reads: "CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Are you a disabled, Deaf, neurodivergent, or chronically ill U-M student? Submit an essay or piece of art to Accessing Disability Culture, a digital anthology highlighting disability culture, lived experience, and inaccessibility at the University of Michigan. The submission form closes on November 15. Accepted submissions will be compensated with $100. Email digitalaflab@umich.edu with questions. Scan the QR code to learn more. Current and former UM students eligible." In the left half of the image there is a stylized illustration of two people dancing or shaking hands. The figure on the left has light brown skin, short black hair, and a prosthetic leg, and is wearing a yellow baseball cap, a blue shirt, blue shorts, and tennis shoes. The figure on the right has light skin, long red hair, and is using a cane and wearing a turquoise top, yellow skirt, and turquoise boots with laces. There is a QR code that leads to this page. In the lower right corner white text reads "Sponsored by UMInDS" beneath logos for the Digital Accessible Futures Lab and the Disco Network.

Call for Submissions: Accessing Disability Culture

The call

Accessing Disability Culture is a multi-institutional digital series that highlights disability culture, lived experience, and inaccessibility at the University of Michigan. This born-digital anthology is a project of the DISCO Network, a consortium that imagines anti-ableist and anti-racist digital futures. The DISCO Network receives support from the Mellon Foundation.

Accessing Disability Culture joins DISCO in dreaming about radically just disability futures. Without a Disability Cultural Center, it can be hard for neurodivergent / chronically ill / disabled / Deaf / questioning students to find each other. However, we are here. We meet our community members here and there, at club meetings, classes, strikes, sports games, protests, parties — often in an accidental way. Through this digital series, we can meet intentionally. Here we can talk about our experiences freely, with and for each other. This anthology is not just for future students. It is for all of us who benefit from the sharing and celebration of disability culture and community.

Accessing Disability Culture defines disability broadly. We recognize that gaining access to an appropriate diagnosis is heavily biased against women and gender-diverse people, those with lower socioeconomic statuses, BIPOC, and other marginalized people. Self-diagnosis is valid. We also welcome submissions from current and former students who have experienced temporary disability, students who might be questioning whether or not they have a disability, and/or students who have had experiences with their own health or healthcare systems that have left a lasting impression. In a world where nondisabled people often determine how to talk about and identify disability, we believe that you are the best determiner of your own disability identity.

Submitting your work

Students with multiply-marginalized identities are strongly encouraged to submit work. We also encourage submissions from students at any career stage at UofM, including undergraduates, graduate students, professional students, medical students, and those who have left or graduated in the last five years.

Those whose work has been accepted will have the option to remain anonymous or pseudonymous, if desired. If you wish to stay anonymous, please indicate so on the submission form.

Submissions can vary in form, style, and content.

We encourage multimedia submissions as well as submissions across an array of genres. Essays, poetry, photography, performance, and artistic works, as well as audio and video submissions, are welcome. Please keep written submissions to 2,000 words or less. Please keep audio and video recordings to below 15 minutes.

You can submit your work through the Google Submissions Form. If you have questions about multimedia submissions or genre, or any difficulties accessing the submission form, please contact us at [email protected].

Accepted submissions will be compensated with $100. It is important to us that you are compensated for your work. Please consider this an honorarium for the time and effort that you put into preserving disability community, knowledge, and culture.

We are especially interested in submissions addressing one or more of the following prompts. However, this is not meant to be a definitive list:

How has the internet affected your relationship with disability identity and community?
How do you dream disabled/neurodivergent/chronically ill students will interact within and with the University of Michigan?
Where have you found a disability/chronic illness/neurodivergent-affirming community at U-M or in the Ann Arbor area?
What do you wish you could tell your first-year self about disability identity and college?
What is a lesson relating to self-advocacy you learned through experience in college?
How has your relationship with disability identity changed or become more realized throughout college / grad school / med school?
How do you cope with academic ableism? Academic ableism is a broad concept that describes experiences of discrimination and/or inaccessibility in academic institutions.
In the future, what resources do you hope disabled/neurodivergent/chronically ill students at UofM will be supported by?
What is your idea of access? What resources have granted you larger access to education as a neurodivergent/chronically ill/disabled student?
What is neurodivergent/chronically ill/disabled student culture to you?
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a disabled/chronically ill/neurodivergent student (including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students)?
Experiences with caregiving, the GEO strike, campus emergencies, and more UofM events are welcomed.
Submissions to Accessing Disability Culture can focus on other topics or experiences as well.

The ADC Editorial Committee is especially interested in submissions that discuss personal experiences at UofM. If your work is accepted, you will be provided with mentorship on how to make your submission digitally accessible.

Deadlines and contact information

Deadline for submission: December 1, 2023

Submission Form

Questions? Contact us at [email protected].

Lead editor:

Tess Carichner (School of Nursing, 2025; Digital Accessible Futures Lab, Research Associate; UMSN Instructional Aide)

Editorial committee:

David Adelman, Postdoctoral Fellow, Digital Accessible Futures Lab; Affiliate Faculty, Digital Studies Institute

Maddie Agne, DISCO Administrative Assistant, 2023 Creative Writing Alum of the University of Michigan

Sarah Hughes, GSRA (Digital Accessible Futures Lab); PhD Candidate, Joint Program in English & Education

Pratiksha T. Menon, GSRA (Digital Accessible Futures Lab), PhD Candidate, Department of Communication & Media

Giselle Mills, DISCO Grant Initiatives Program Coordinator, 2023 History Honors Alum of the University of Michigan

Elise C. Nagy, GSRA (Digital Accessible Futures Lab), PhD Candidate, Joint Program in English & Women’s and Gender Studies

M. Remi Yergeau, Arthur F. Thurnau Associate Professor, Digital Studies Institute & Department of English; Director, Digital Accessible Futures Lab; Associate Director, Digital Studies Institute

Accessing Disability Culture is sponsored by the UM Initiative in Disability Studies, the Digital Accessible Futures Lab, and the DISCO Network.